Will Sheff takes the John Darnielle style of songwriting and mixes it with a changing backing band of amazing musicians. Sheff formed the band in 1998 in Austin, Texas with a high school friend from New Hampshire, Seth Warren. Being that the band now hailed from Austin, it made perfect sense that they first got recognition at SXSW in 2000. They added multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater) and released their first full length album, Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See in 2002. Over the next 12 years, they saw members come and go with Sheff remaining the only constant. During these 12 years they would go on to release six more studio albums, several EP's and two digital mix-tapes, Golden Opportunities and Golden Opportunities 2. Their last four albums have all debuted at #66 or higher on the Billboard top 200 chart, with 2011's I am Very Far debuting at #32. Their latest album, 2013's The Silver Gymnasium is a concept album about Sheff's hometown of Meriden, New Hampshire. The band successfully raised $40,000 via kickstarter to create a short movie based off of The Silver Gymnasium titled Down Down the Deep River.

Sounds Like: The Mountain Goats mixed a rock edge. They've been compared to The Good Life & The Hold Steady, but really manage to create a sound that is all their own.

Genre: Folk-Rock

Similar Bonnaroo Artists: The closest band that's also on the lineup would be Neutral Milk Hotel, but minus the Lo-Fi sound and a bit more poppier.

A great starting point album for new listeners would be Black Sheep Boy.

One of their more rock tunes:

A really mean love song?

AC Newman of The New Pornographers performs with Will Sheff

A personal favorite:

Physical Reaction/Live ShowI will most likely try my best to get on the rail. I've seen them live a few times and they always put on a great show. The casual fan will probably be dancing to some songs and turning around to politely shush any talkers that might be around them.

Sorry for the delay and I hope to see you on the farm during their set!